Morels Part II + Going to Market

Hey y'uns. Been a while. My craptop decided it didn't want to connect to the internet anymore, so it got a little complicated getting photos onto a hard drive. Anyway, it's been a really busy few weeks. You might remember last time, we left off when I was about to feast on some morel mushrooms that I found in the backyard. The meal I ended up making was exquisite. I documented some of the process.

I cut the mushrooms up into these little cogwheels.


Garlic, shallot, chives.



Two organic chicken breasts.

The preparation was really simple. I sauteed the morels in european butter (slightly higher fat content) until they gave up most of their water and started to brown just a little bit, then I added some heavy cream, white wine, and a little salt and pepper to make a mushroom sauce. The organic chicken breasts were insanely expensive, but were as juicy as steaks, and this was a special meal that I just couldn't fuck up with some depressing Purdue saltine-thin chicken breast. I fried them up with a little bit of spice, but I wanted the morels and the sauce to be the main flavor in the dish, so I didn't add much. So there you go. A little linguine on the side. A little sauce over the chicken breasts, and...


Daaamn, son.


All of my lettuces, plus the arugula and bok choy are all coming in too fast for me to handle. I've been making huge salads every night. This is the one I made the night of the fungal feast.


One of the best meals I have ever eaten.


I've started going to market, working with my friend Eric, who runs Maryland's oldest organic farm out in Middletown, MD. I do some work for him, and as of last week, I help run his stand at the Dupont Circle Sunday market in Washington D.C. You can sell your stuff for a lot more to Georgetown yuppies down there than you can here in B-more. But, any DC friends, come on over and I'll hook you up. I'll be selling a few of my own plants, plus some ziplock bags of salads and stir-frys that I'll pick tomorrow. Last weekend was my first time down there. I had a blast. I'm really looking forward to going back down on Sunday. All the other vendors cut me really nice deals or just trade me for some of what I'm selling now that I work there.

So here's what's new in the garden.

Aaron got sold. Hopefully my friend Carolyn will take good care of him. I'm going to spend the money I made selling Aaron et al on a keg for a bonfire party next weekend.

It wasn't much money.

It won't be Expensive Beer.

Come & party anyway.

We have some new members to initiate into the garden tribe.



That's (from left to right) Arthur, Kandis, and Ryan. They are all catnip plants. Actually, to be more precise, they are all clones of the same catnip plant. Catnip (and a few other species, like Apples, Avocados and Cannabis) can reproduce asexually, through a process called vegetative reproduction. Basically, I found one catnip plant growing at the end of the winter, I cut it up into little chunks, making sure that each piece had a bit of leaf and a piece of root, and I just planted those in pots with seed starting organic soil mix. These three are all genetically identical.

The tomatoes are getting big big big



I have room for about 20 of these at the most. Hopefully I'll get rid of some this weekend in D.C. Buy some plants!



This is Caitlin, who was just a squirty little sprout the last time she showed up around here. She's a white habanero pepper, and she's been kicking ass and growing up fast.



Finally, EGGPLANTS

These have been doing so great lately. I have two varieties. Applegreen and Edirne. These are Applegreens.



These are going to be so awesome. They kick out these long skinny eggplants that are supposed to be extra tender and delicious.


And are green.



Some of the other peppers. That's Gabriella the Corno pepper on the left in the foreground, and that's Aba the Purple Beauty in the back, second to the right. That's all for tonight. Hopefully I'll get to document some of this weekend's market fun. Hope it doesn't rain.